Methods and systems for accessing information related to an order of a commodity

ABSTRACT

Methods of allowing a customer to access information related to an order of a commodity include gathering inspection information from a commodity lot, collecting grower, field, and packing information associated with the commodity lot, recording purchase orders associated with the commodity lot, assigning a trace code to each of the purchase orders, entering the inspection information; the grower, field, and packing information; the purchase orders; and the trace codes into a database maintained through online accounts. Many members of a supply chain are entitled to accounts that are linked, each account being given limited access to other accounts, thereby allowing the customer to access the inspection information, and the grower, field, and packing information, by entering one of the trace codes into the web-based application. According to one exemplary embodiment, each of the purchase orders associated with the commodity lot is linked within the web-based application.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/061,868 titled “Methods and Systems for Accessing Information Relatedto an Order of a Commodity,” filed on Apr. 3, 2008, which application isa continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/636,128titled “Methods and Systems for Accessing Information Related to anOrder of a Commodity” filed on Dec. 8, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No.7,996,285, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/363,785 titled “Methods and Systems for AccessingInformation Related to an Order of a Commodity” filed on Feb. 27, 2006,now U.S. Pat. No. 8,131,599, which applications are incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The ability to trace produce back to its packing facilities, inspectionpoints, and even the field in which it was grown is becoming more of anecessity in the produce industry as concerns regarding food safetyincrease. In the event of a food-borne illness outbreak, for example,damage may be limited if the source of the contaminated product isidentified quickly so that other products grown in the same field,processed in the same packing facility, and/or transported in the samevehicle can be quarantined.

The events of Sep. 11, 2001 reinforced the need to enhance the securityof the United States. They also raised awareness of the possibility ofbioterrorism attacks. Hence, Congress passed the Public Health Securityand Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the BioterrorismAct), which requires food handlers to establish and maintain records forall food directly in contact with its finished container.

In addition, many customers, such as brokers and retailers, areincreasingly requesting real time access to information regarding theproduce they buy. For example, they often desire to view shipping,tracing, and inspection information immediately after they place anorder for produce. Many customers also require independent certificationaudits of all produce sold in their stores.

Currently, much of the shipping, tracing, and inspection information arerecorded on paper. Moreover, a myriad of different recording techniquesare used to record this information. Consequently, it is often difficultto comply with government requirements to be able to quickly traceproduce back to the packing facility in which it was processed and tothe field in which it was grown. It is also difficult to comply withcustomers' requests to instantaneously access information regardingtheir produce orders.

SUMMARY

Methods of allowing a customer to access information related to an orderof a commodity include gathering inspection information from a commoditylot, collecting grower, field, and packing information associated withthe commodity lot, collecting pictures and videos related to thecommodity lot, recording purchase orders associated with the commoditylot, assigning a trace code or electronic code to each of the purchaseorders, entering the inspection information; the grower, field, andpacking information; the relevant pictures and videos; the purchaseorders; and the trace codes into a central database. Once entered intothe central database, the content of a web-based application may beupdated with the inspection information, the grower, field, and packinginformation, pictures and videos, the purchase orders, and the tracecodes within the central database, thereby allowing the customer toaccess the inspection information, and the grower, field, and packinginformation, as well as related videos and pictures, by entering one ofthe trace codes into the web-based application. According to oneexemplary embodiment, each of the purchase orders associated with thecommodity lot is linked within the web-based application.

According to one example, systems for allowing a customer to accessinformation related to an order of a commodity include a serverconfigured to store the information in a central database, theinformation including inspection information corresponding to a singlesource lot of the order of the commodity including an inspectionphotograph of the source lot of the commodity and at least one or moreof sales information, shipping information, pack out information,inventory information, and tracing information corresponding to theorder of the commodity, as well as links to videos that may be relevantto the commodity. Additionally, one or more terminals having one or moreapplications configured to enter the information into the centraldatabase and a web-based application configured to allow the customer toaccess the information within the central database are included in theexemplary system. According to one exemplary embodiment, multiple ordersfrom the single source lot are linked to facilitate access to all ordersof the commodity originating from the single source lot.

According to another example, a system in which a central website linksseveral databases populated and maintained by various members of thesupply chain including packing facilities. According to this exemplaryimplementation, a packing facility or other member of the supply chainrecords and enters information into a database, including inspectioninformation corresponding to a single source lot of the order of thecommodity including an inspection photograph of the source lot of thecommodity and at least one or more of sales information, shippinginformation, pack out information, inventory information, and tracinginformation corresponding to the order of the commodity, as well aslinks to videos that may be relevant to the commodity. The database mayalso contain information about the grower, field, and packinginformation associated with the commodity lot, pictures and videosrelated to the commodity lot, recording purchase orders associated withthe commodity lot, audits, pesticide records, certificates, organiccertificates, bill of laden, memorandums, and other pertinentinformation relative to the history of a commodity. Through a centralwebsite, a consumer or supplier is able to view the information relatedto a purchased commodity; the central website retrieves the necessaryinformation from one or more databases maintained by members of thesupply chain (e.g. the packing facility) to display information to theconsumer.

According to an alternative embodiment, a central Web Server allowsaccount access. According to this embodiment, a members of the supplychain would be able to create an account on the trace produce website.Similar to the embodiment described above, a central server or serversare populated with information from members of the supply chain,including but not limited to growers, packing facilities, shippers,customers, brokers, and re-packers; however, according to an embodimentincorporating accounts, a supply chain member creates an account and isallowed to view and enter information with limited access. Accountswould allow a limited access by one member of the supply chain to viewinformation belonging to another member of the supply chain. Forexample, a shipper may have an account allowing him to send messages ornegotiate with a customer; while the packing facility account may allowhim to view information of the shipper, the packer may not haveprivileges to view information of the customer. This process will bedescribed in greater detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of theprinciples described herein and are a part of the specification. Theillustrated embodiments are merely examples and do not limit the scopeof the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary supply chain or path that produce maytake in route to an end consumer according to principles describedherein.

FIG. 2 illustrates multiple exemplary supply chains that produce maytake in route to an end consumer according to principles describedherein.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary packing process thatmay be used within a packing facility to facilitate real-time access toprocessing, shipping, tracing, and inspection information correspondingto a lot of produce that is processed within the packing facilityaccording to principles described herein.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of an exemplary software program that may beused by a packing facility worker to assign a tracking identification(ID) to an incoming lot of produce within a database according toprinciples described herein.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an exemplary produce inspection softwareprogram that may be used by an inspector to enter an inspection reportinto a database according to principles described herein.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot illustrating an exemplary program that may beused to take digital photographs of the produce according to principlesdescribed herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary system in which a central server storesthe databases of packing facilities, whereby a customer may accessinformation regarding a pending or already placed produce order via theInternet or any other type of networking configuration according toprinciples described herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an alternative exemplary system in which a web serveraccesses the various databases of packing facilities, whereby a customermay access information regarding a pending or already placed produceorder via the Internet or any other type of networking configurationaccording to principles described herein.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate both sides of an exemplary packing labelincluding a lot ID, according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a relationship allocation of alot of produce corresponding to a single lot ID within a server,according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a screen shot illustrating an exemplary web page throughwhich a consumer may access information regarding a purchased product byentering the lot ID provided on a product, according to one exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 12 is a screen shot of a web page a consumer may access showing alink to a Google Map as well as links to YouTube videos that are relateda lot ID entered by a consumer, according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a screen shot of a web page a supplier may use to loginsecurely and perform a trace-back on lot of produce, according toprinciples described herein.

FIG. 14 is a screen shot of a web page a supplier that is logged in mayuse navigate and view various details related to an entered lot ID,according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a screen shot of a web page showing sales orders, accordingto one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a screen shot of a web page showing sales details of aspecific sales order, according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a screen shot of a web page showing shipping details of a lotof produce, according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a screen shot of a web page after selecting “inspections”within the secure login, allowing a distributor to view inspectiondetails relative to a lot of produce, according to one exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 19 is a screen shot of a web page after selecting “view inspection”showing the detailed inspection report related to the lot of produceselected, according to one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a screen shot of a web page after selecting “view picture”showing what the onions looked like during the inspection.

FIG. 21 shows a flow chart illustrating a customer account embodimentallowing members of the supply chain limited access to informationbelonging to other members of the supply chain, according to oneexemplary embodiment.

Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar,but not necessarily identical, elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and systems for allowing a customer, a supplier, or a regulatoryagency to access information related to an order of a commodity aredescribed herein. The information may include sales information,shipping information, tracing information, related photos and videos,advertisement links, and/or inspection information corresponding to theorder of the commodity, and in some instances messages from one memberof the supply chain to another. In some examples, as will be describedin more detail below, the information is entered into a central databasevia one or more applications residing on one or more terminals. Aweb-based application is regularly updated with the information withinthe central database. An authorized customer, supplier, regulatoryagency, or other entity may then login to the web-based application andaccess the desired information related to the order of the commodity.

As used herein and in the appended claims, unless otherwise specificallydenoted, the term “customer or consumer” will be used to refer to anyauthorized entity that logs into the web-based application and accessesinformation related to an order of commodity. Exemplary, but notexclusive, customers include, packing facilities, brokers, retailers,individual buyers, inspectors, shippers, growers, regulatory agencies,and others involved in the supply chain of the commodity.

It will be recognized that the systems and methods described herein maybe applied to any type of commodity and are not limited to produce only.For example, the systems and methods described herein may be used tokeep track of and access information regarding the production,processing, inspection, and/or shipment of any type of produce (e.g.,fruits and vegetables), grain, meat, livestock, or other food product;it may be extended to include other fabricated products, where ratherthan including grower information it may include information pertainingto the fabrication of a certain product. However, for illustrativepurposes only, produce will be used in the examples described herein.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present systems and methods. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the' art that the present systems and methodsmay be practiced without these specific details. Reference in thespecification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Theappearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary supply chain or path that produce maytake in route to an end consumer. As shown in FIG. 1, the produce isfirst grown in a field (10) or in any other suitable environment. Theproduce is then harvested and taken to a packing facility (11) where itis processed and packed for shipment to various destinations. Thepacking facility (11) is also known as a packing shed or a packinghouse. In some alternative examples, harvested produce is first taken toa storage facility where it is stored for a period of time prior tobeing taken to the packing facility (11).

Packing facility operations may vary depending on the particular producebeing processed. For example, packing facility operations may be assimple as moving produce from a field lug into a shipping container.Alternatively, packing facility operations may include a variety ofhandling practices including, but not limited to, cleaning, waxing,sizing, quality grading, color sorting, and inspecting.

Produce is often inspected at the packing facility (11) by a UnitedStates Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspector. Alternatively, manypacking facilities (11) now participate in the USDA's Customer AssistedInspection Program (CAIP). Under CAIP, a packing facility (11) hires itsown internal inspector that has been certified by the state to inspectproduce. The inspector's work is reviewed periodically by a USDAcertified state inspector to ensure that inspection procedures areproperly followed. The inspection procedure and other packing facilityoperations will be described in more detail below.

Once the produce has been processed in the packing facility (11) andpacked, it is transported to various buyers. Produce is often bought bya broker (12), which, in turn, distributes the produce to various endconsumers (13), retailers (14), or other food service entities (15). Insome alternative arrangements, the packing facility (11) serves as abroker and distributes the produce directly to the customers.

As mentioned, produce buyers often desire access to informationconcerning the production, processing, inspection, and transportation ofthe produce that they purchase. This information includes, but is notlimited to, load quantities, pricing, tracing information (i.e.,information describing the grower of the produce and the particularfield where the produce was grown), inspection report summaries,transport vehicle information, and images of the produce while still inthe processing stage.

However, as shown in FIG. 2, a particular piece of produce that is soldto a broker (12) or a retailer (14), for example, may originate in oneof many different fields (e.g., 10-1 through 10-3), be processed in oneof many different packing facilities (e.g., 11-1, 11-2), and take one ofmany different transportation routes before it arrives at its finaldestination. Moreover, each packing facility (11) may use differentrecording, tracking, and inspection procedures. For these reasons,accessing desired information corresponding to produce once it isprocessed and shipped is often a difficult and lengthy process.

Hence, the systems and methods described herein may be used tostandardize the recording procedures used by growers, packingfacilities, inspectors, and shippers so that buyers may have real-timeaccess to information related to the production, processing, inspection,and transportation of the produce that they purchase. As will bedescribed in more detail below, a web-based application may be used totrace produce and to give produce buyers real-time access to informationrelated to their purchase order.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary packing process thatmay be used within a packing facility to facilitate real-time access toprocessing, shipping, tracing, and inspection information correspondingto a lot of produce that is processed within the packing facility. Itwill be recognized that the steps shown in FIG. 3 are merely exemplaryand that they may be modified, reordered, added to, and/or removed asbest serves a particular application. As shown in FIG. 3, a “lotidentification” (lot ID) corresponding to a particular lot of produce tobe processed in the packing facility is created within a database (step20). As will be described further the database may be a central databaseor a local database. As used herein and in the appended claims, unlessotherwise specifically denoted, the term “lot” will be used to refer toa particular batch or quantity of produce of the same kind that is takento the packing facility to be processed. The lot ID may include anynumber of characters as best serves a particular application.

The database used in connection with the process of FIG. 3 may becreated within any database application as best serves a particularapplication. Exemplary database applications that may be used include,but are not limited to, FoxPro™, Structured Query Language (SQL), andMicrosoft™ Access™.

In some examples, the lot ID is linked within the database to one ormore lot attributes. For example, the lot ID may be linked tophotographs, videos, or other multimedia presentations of the grower ofthe produce, the field where the lot of produce is grown, and thepacking facility where the lot of produce is processed. According to oneexemplary embodiment the lot ID has links to videos on a video hostingwebsite such as YouTube. Text describing the grower, field, packingfacility, and/or third party audits of the produce may be additionallyor alternatively linked to the lot ID. The text may include, but is notlimited to; the name of the grower, global positioning satellite (GPS)coordinates of the field, seed variety information, a description of thepacking facility, and/or any other applicable information. According toone exemplary embodiments, the lot ID may also be linked directly orindirectly to various advertisements. A lot ID may also have audits,pesticide records, certificates, organic certificates, bill of laden,and memorandums associated and linked to a lot ID. Some of thesematerials, such as audits and certifications may be accessible throughthird party websites. A link may be provided on the traceproduce websiteallowing a consumer to click the link and be directed to an audit orcertification agency's website containing information on audits orcertification documentation regarding the lot ID. As previouslydescribed, the system and method may be extended to include a widevariety of products, not exclusively produce; therefore it is possiblethat the system and method will incorporate a different set ofinformational items associated with a given product, all of which may belinked to the lot ID.

Additionally, according to one exemplary embodiment, the text may belinked to a third party information website. For example, the text mayinclude a link to a third party mapping service such as GOGGLE MAP,YAHOO MAPS, or MAPQUEST that provides a geographical map identifying thelocation of the field. According to this exemplary embodiment, the lotID is linked to coordinates of the field location. When the link to thethird party mapping service is selected, the coordinates areautomatically entered into the query page of the third party mappingservice, providing the desired map/photos. Alternatively, rather than beredirected through links to external web pages containing informationsuch as maps, photos, videos, advertisements, and other multimediapresentations, the information may be displayed through third partysnippets on the same page. For example, the YouTube videos or GoogleMaps may be displayed on the webpage rather than redirecting a consumerto a third party website.

As mentioned, text or multimedia presentations describing third partyaudits of the produce may additionally or alternatively be linked to thelot ID. Third party audits allow end customers to verify that the groweror shipper is using “good agricultural practices” and “good handlingpractices.” The audits may be performed by any third party, e.g., PrimusLabs. Certificates and audits may also be included verifying organicallygrown produce. Audits preformed by any entity may be available toconsumers in any format such as documentation, videos showing the auditbeing preformed, videos of a summary of an audit, and other pertinentinformation communicated in any form by members of the supply chain. Itis also possible that some of these audits and certifications may beaccessible through third party websites. A link may be provided on thetraceproduce website allowing a consumer to click the link and bedirected to an audit or certification agency's website containinginformation on audits or certification documentation regarding the lotID.

As shown in FIG. 3, the lot of produce corresponding to the lot ID isthen taken into the packing facility to be processed (step 21). Atracking ID may then be assigned to the incoming lot within the database(step 22). As will be described in more detail below, the tracking IDmay be used anywhere in the supply chain to trace the lot of produceback to the packing facility and to the field in which the lot ofproduce was grown.

In some examples, the tracking ID is referred to as a run number andincludes the date and order in which the lot is processed in the packingfacility. For example, if the lot is the first lot to be processed inthe packing facility on April 18 of a given year, it may be assigned atracking ID of Apr. 18, 2001.

In some examples, the tracking ID may additionally or alternativelyinclude a USDA positive lot identification (PLI) number. USDA PLInumbers are issued by the USDA to inspected lots of produce and are usedto trace produce that is in commerce back to its packing facility. Insome examples, the USDA PLI number is linked to the lot ID within thecentral database so that it may also be used to trace the produce backto the field in which it was grown.

In some alternative examples, both a run number and a USDA PLI numberare assigned to an incoming lot of produce. A separate run number isadvantageous in some instances because it may be easier for workers inthe packing facility to work with run numbers rather than USDA PLInumbers. However, it will be recognized that run numbers and USDA PLInumbers are merely illustrative of the many different types of trackingnumbers that may be assigned to an incoming lot of produce.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of an exemplary software program that may beused by a packing facility worker to assign a tracking ID to an incominglot of produce within the central database. As shown in FIG. 4, thepacking facility worker may be presented with a number of additionalinput fields for each lot of produce processed. For example, the workermay additionally enter the date, lot ID, and/or various detailsregarding the particular lot of produce being processed.

Returning to FIG. 3, the lot of produce is then processed (step 23). Asmentioned, the produce may be processed in a variety of differentmanners. For example, the produce may be cleaned, waxed, sized, qualitygraded, and/or sorted.

After the produce has been processed, it is packaged into containers(step 24). Once packaged, random samples of the produce within the lotare inspected by an inspector (step 25). As mentioned, the inspector maybe an internal inspector hired by the packing facility. Alternatively,the inspector may be a government inspector assigned to the packingfacility. A number of different qualities of the produce may beinspected depending on the particular type of produce being processed.For example, the inspector may ensure that the produce has been properlysorted and labeled by weight, color, quality, and/or grade.

In some examples, the inspector enters an inspection report into asoftware program that is linked to the central database. In this manner,the inspection report may be linked to a particular tracking ID withinthe database. For example, FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an exemplaryproduce inspection software program that may be used by an inspector toenter an inspection report into the central database. As shown in FIG.5, the program allows the inspector to enter the tracking ID of theinspected samples; information identifying the inspector; andinformation corresponding to the brand, weight, color, quality, and/orgrade of the produce. In some examples, the software programautomatically date and time stamps the entry made by the inspector.

Returning to FIG. 3, a digital photograph of one or more samples withinthe lot of produce may also be taken (step 26). In some examples, thefirst sample within the lot of produce that is processed isphotographed. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the samplesthat are inspected are photographed. The photographs may then be storedand linked within the central database to the tracking ID.

In some examples, the camera that is used to take the digitalphotographs of the produce is controllable via a computer softwareinterface. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the software program used toinspect the produce may also include a button (50) that may be selectedto activate a program that is used to take the digital photographs. FIG.6 is a screen shot illustrating an exemplary program that may be used totake digital photographs of the produce.

In some examples, digital video of one or more samples within the lot ofproduce may additionally or alternatively be taken and linked to thetracking ID. For example, digital video may record some or all of theprocessing of a particular sample of produce in the packing facility.

Returning to FIG. 3, the containers are then marked with the tracking IDand/or other desirable information (e.g., lot and quantity information)(step 27). In some examples, the marking includes a bar code, radiofrequency ID, or any other tagging system identifier.

In some examples, the marking information is printed on a tag that isaffixed to each container. Additionally or alternatively, the markinginformation may be stamped or otherwise printed directly on eachcontainer.

In some examples, the marking information is affixed directly to eachpiece of produce within an order (e.g., a sticker is affixed to eachpiece of fruit within an order). However, it will be recognized that insome instances, it is too labor intensive to mark each individual pieceof produce or even each individual container within an order. Hence, themarking information may alternatively be affixed to one or more palletsof containers in a particular order.

As it is possible that a packing facility may pack several productsoriginating from different sources, wherein the products are of such anature that individually labeling each own is unrealistic, the packagemay be labeled with several lot ID numbers. Each lot ID number on thepackage corresponding to one of the products within the package. One ofexample of this may include a packing facility that packages potatoes,the potatoes may originate from several different fields and growers.Each of the lots of produce received from the various growers isassociated with a different lot ID, as they each originated from adifferent field and grower. A package created by the packing facilitymay contain potatoes of various origins; therefore, the outside of thepackage may contain the lot IDs of all of the potatoes possibly includedin the package. A consumer may then use the several lot IDs on thepackage and trace back the history and other information as is describedherein as being associated with a lot ID.

Alternatively, it may be desired to package the products from varyingorigins and label them with a single lot ID. This new lot ID wouldinclude the history of all of the products contained within the package.An example of how this may be used in practice is that of a salad. Asalad comprising lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, and celery hasfive products that are each grown in a different field by a differentgrower, each associated to a different lot ID number. When the packingfacility receives the five products and begins to package them as asalad together in one package, the packing facility may assign a new lotID to the packaged salad. A consumer entering the lot ID found on thepackaged salad will be directed to a web page showing the information ofall of the products found within the package of salad. They will seethat the map for the radishes, it's corresponding field, grower, videosand other information as described herein, they will then be able to, onthe same page or through linked pages, see the same correspondinginformation for the fresh spinach's information, the lettuce'sinformation, etc.

As apparent, this may be extended to any other package incorporatingmultiple products to be packaged in a single package, or to a singleproduct originating from various locations, such as a package of applescoming from many different growers.

The containers of produce may then be loaded onto a transport vehicle(e.g., a truck, ship, airplane, etc.) (Step 28) and transported to oneor more buyers who have placed orders for various quantities of produce.Each order is assigned a purchase order (PO) number within a database.

In some examples, the tagging system identifier (e.g., the bar code)corresponding to the containers in a particular purchase order isscanned into a database as the containers are loaded onto the transportvehicle to fulfill the purchase order. In this manner, the purchaseorder number may be linked to the tracking ID within the database.Additional information, such as the quantity of produce included withinthe shipment, may also be linked to the tracking ID within the database.

After a Bill of Lading is completed with the operator of the transportvehicle, the order may then be finalized by a shipping clerk enteringthe information in a database. In this manner, as will be described inmore detail below, a customer may see via the Internet that his or herorder has shipped almost as soon as the produce is loaded onto thetransport vehicle. The Bill of Lading may be associated with a lot IDand be viewable on the web page.

It is possible that during the supply chain as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG.2, addition groups may play a role. One example is that a repacker maybe involved. A repacker may buy product and subsequently repack theproduct for resale. The ID process may be modified to accommodate forthis by allowing addition members of the supply chain, e.g. repackers,to add to the PLI number or lot ID numbers to account for all stepstaken during the supply chain from the field to the end consumer. Thisprovides that when a trace back is preformed on a lot ID all theinformation related to the supply chain is accounted for, including thepossible repacking the commodity.

In one possible embodiment, food services, retailers, and other endconsumers may further track the distribution of a given commodity suchas produce. This may be done through the Trace Produce website oranother website. This would allow a commodity distributor such asWal-mart or US Foodservices to utilize the existing code found onproducts that come from the shipper, and enter the codes into analternative tracing data system, or the traceproduce system, and trackwhich stores or customer's the products went to.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary system whereby a customer may accessinformation regarding a pending or already placed produce order via theInternet or any other type of networking configuration. The informationmay include, but is not limited to, sales, shipping, tracing,inspection, photos, videos, advertisements, and other load information.As shown in FIG. 7, a packing facility terminal (50-1 through 50-3) maybe located at a number of different packing facilities (11-1 through11-3). Information regarding the production, processing, and inspectionof an order of produce at each packing facility (11) is entered into thecentral database, or server, (51) using the packing facility terminals(50) as described above in connection with FIGS. 3-6. This informationis stored on a central server (51) which may also be located at anysuitable location. The server (51) is connected to the Internet (53) orany other suitable network.

As shown in FIG. 7, any authorized customer or other entity that is alsoconnected to the Internet (53) may access the information stored on theserver (51). For example, a broker (12) may access the informationstored on the server (51) using remote terminal (52-1), a retailer (14)may access the contents of the server (51) using remote terminal (52-2),an inspector (16) may access the contents of the server (51) usingremote terminal (52-3), and/or an end customer (18) may access thecontents of the server (51) using remote terminal (52-4).

As shown in FIG. 8, it will be recognized that the information enteredat each packing facility (11) may alternatively be stored in separatedatabases (51-1 through 51-3) residing at the packing facilities (11).Information stored in these separate databases may be accessed by aserver (80) querying each separate database instead of querying acentral database. In some alternative examples, the information may bestored on separate databases (51-1 through 51-3) residing at the packingfacilities (11) and in a central database as shown in FIG. 7. In thismanner, desired information may be accessed by querying the packingfacility databases (51-1 through 51-3) directly or by querying thecentral database (51, FIG. 7).

Each of the terminals (50, 52) shown in FIG. 7 may include any suitablecomputing device configured to be connected to the Internet (53). Forexample, the terminals (50, 52) may include, but are not limited to,personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cellularphones. In some alternative examples, a customer without a connection tothe Internet (53) may access information regarding a produce order byusing an automated telephone system.

As mentioned, an authorized customer may access the information storedon the server (51) via a web-based application. In some examples, thecontents of the web-based application are continuously updated with thecontents of the database so that the information seen on the web-basedapplication is always current. In some alternative applications, thecontents of the web-based application are updated periodically as bestserves a particular application.

In some examples, the web-based application is maintained by a producefacility, broker, or other entity. The customer may be given a usernameand password and may then login and view information specific to his orher produce order. An exemplary web-based application configured toprovide information regarding a produce order will now be described. Itwill be recognized that the web-based application described herein ismerely illustrative of the many different web-based applications thatmay be used to provide access to information regarding a produce orderto a customer or to any other authorized entity.

As shown in FIG. 9A, the front of the tag (900) may includesource-indicating information including, but in no way limited toinformation related to the packing facility or broker sourcing theproduct.

As shown in FIG. 9B, the back side of the exemplary tag (900) mayinclude further product identifying information including, but in no waylimited to, product type, weight, and a system barcode. Additionally, asillustrated, the exemplary tag (900) may include a lot identificationcomponent (910). Moreover, as shown in FIG. 9B, an HTML address or otheridentifier indicating where the customer portal configured to receivethe lot identification component can be found may be disposed on theexemplary tag (900). While the exemplary tag (900) illustrated in FIGS.9A and 9B illustrates the lot identification component on the backsideof the tag, the exemplary lot identification component may be on anysurface.

According to one exemplary embodiment, when the lot identificationcomponent (910) is entered into a customer portal, information relatedto the products assigned the lot identification component is displayed.Examples of manners in which information may be displayed will bedescribed in greater detail below.

Additionally, according to one exemplary embodiment, all of the purchaseorders associated with a lot identification component (910; FIG. 9B) maybe linked within the server (51). FIG. 10 illustrates the data structureof the server (51) memory modules, according to one exemplaryembodiment. As illustrated, multiple purchase orders (1501, 1502, 1503,and 1504) may originate from a single lot, and consequently have thesame lot identification component. However, the various purchase ordersmay be shipped to different locations such as food service locations(15; FIG. 1), retailers (14; FIG. 1), and/or consumers (13; FIG. 1).According to the present exemplary system and method, the variouspurchase orders stemming from a single lot are linked together withinthe server (51).

According to the present exemplary embodiment, linking the associatedpurchase orders stemming from a single lot allows for the rapididentification of all of the orders that are transported from a singlelot. In a package containing multiple products, a single lot ID of thepackage may be linked to all of the products within. For example, if aproblem is identified from a single purchase order, such as reports ofbotulism, e-coli, rot, or other difficulties, the purchase ordersassociated with the entire lot may then be identified and inspected orre-called as the situation merits. If a spinach in a salad is determinedto be contaminated it would be possible to identify all of the locationsthe spinach was distributed, including packages such as a salad that maycontain additional produce other than salad.

For example, according to one exemplary embodiment, a user may enter theUSGA code to identify a single order. Once entered, all of the ordersrelated to the entered USGA code will be identified. As illustrated inFIG. 10, each data module representing the individual orders will,according to one exemplary embodiment, include a lot identificationcomponent, a purchase order identifier, and a sample media link.According to one exemplary embodiment, the sample media link may includea photograph, audio recording, video presentation, or other multi-mediapresentation of the grower, facility, and/or inspection. For example,according to one exemplary embodiment, the multi-media presentation mayinclude a video of the grower discussing how a field was planted orcared for, the history of the farm, and/or a discussion of theinspection process and results. These videos may be hosted by theserver, or hosted by a third party video hosting service such asYouTube.

As discussed previously the ID tag associated with a lot of produce maycontain a URL. A consumer may enter the URL in a web browser andencounter a web portal allowing a consumer to view information relevantto the purchased produce. FIG. 11 shows one exemplary embodiment of aweb portal allowing a consumer to enter a lot ID and retrieveinformation regarding the entered lot ID. It should be understood thatthis and other screen captures of exemplary user interfaces are intendedas examples and do not in any way limit the web portal interface.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, after the lot trace code or other lotidentification component is entered into a customer portal (FIG. 11), aTrace Write Up Information Page may be displayed to the customer. Asillustrate in FIG. 12, according to one exemplary embodiment, the tracewrite-up information displayed after entering the lot identificationcomponent (910) may include, but is in no way limited to, detailedinformation about the source field of the produce, the source grower ofthe associated produce, and the packing facility of the associatedproduce.

Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the displayed page may containvideos, photos, advertisements, and/or maps hosted by a third part, inthe figure YouTube and Google Maps are shown. This may include videosthat show and discuss what crops, infrastructure or other items surroundthe field (example: this would prove that an onion field is not next toa cattle ranch for food safety purposes). Another example would be avideo that shows the water distribution system or water source to thefield/farm. Another example would be an aerial video taken from a remotecontrol airplane or real airplane the shows the field/farm, water source(River, Canals, Reservoir). Any video related to the field, farmer,grower, shipper, or other member of the supply chain that may beapplicable could be linked in some manner to the web page.

Additionally, a button may be present on the interface that allows acustomer to view a sample of the produce associated with the lotidentification component (910; FIG. 9B). Specifically, as mentionedpreviously, the photographs associated with the inspection programs canbe assigned to the lot identification component (910) such that when theview sample button is selected, the photograph from the inspectionprograms associated with the lot is displayed. Links or buttons may alsobe located on the page directing a consumer to advertisements, recipes,and other relevant third party sites. These same advertisements andrecipes in any multimedia format may also be included on the web pageallowing a consumer to immediately view them upon entering a lot IDnumber.

In some examples, the produce is additionally or alternatively inspectedat a receiving point (e.g., at the broker's place of business or at theretailer's place of business). For example, the federal government hasrecently established the Fresh Electronic Inspection Reporting/ResourceSystem (FEIRS), which includes an electronic means of recording theinspection summaries prepared by the receiving point inspectors. In someexamples, the results of these receiving point inspections are linked tothe tracking ID of the produce. In this manner customers may also accessthe receiving point inspection results.

In addition to the page as illustrated in FIG. 12 various other text,images, videos, or audio related to the lot ID entered on the web portalpage (FIG. 11) may be located on the Trace Write Up page or links to thesame may be found there. Thus advertisements may be centeredstrategically around the produce previously ordered by the consumer.

The web portal shown in FIG. 11 shows a site navigation bar near the topin which several links are located, namely: MAIN, CUSTOMER LOGIN,COMMENTS WELCOME, and CONTACT US. A supplier may have been previouslyprovided with a user name and a password allowing the supplier to clickon CUSTOMER LOGIN and subsequently login and have access to a moredetailed report related to a lot ID. A web page allowing a supplier tologin is shown in FIG. 13. In FIG. 13 a field for entering a user nameand a field for entering a password are provided. A given user may havedifferent privileges than another, preventing one supplier to viewspecific information relative to another supplier.

FIG. 14 is a screen shot, according to one exemplary embodiment, showinga web page allowing a logged in supplier to choose the lot and whichdetails related to the chosen lot the logged in supplier wishes to view.A pull down menu allows a user to select between “lot and its packingday”, “lot”, “shipper”, or “grower”, these options may be added to orsome may not be available. Also, the logged in supplier may choose toview the details or a summary.

Upon selecting what is to be viewed relative to a chosen lot of produce,information in the form of web pages and downloadable portable documentformat (PDF) files may be available, including multimedia formats.According to one exemplary embodiment, the supplier may view a SalesOrder page as shown in FIG. 15. Columns of information are given showingdetails of sales that have been made relative to a lot number. Eachsales order includes a file number (a number assigned to the order bythe central database), a sales date, a ship date, a purchase order (PO)number, the name of the transport carrier, a link to view the order'ssales details, a link to view the order's shipping details, a link toview the inspection report summary corresponding to the order, a link toview the Bill of Lading corresponding to the order, and a link to view areport of the transport vehicle (e.g., a truck). In some examples, thecustomer may sort the information shown in the sales orders web page byfile number, sale date, ship date, or PO number.

According to one embodiment, a more detailed search may be preformed ona lot of produce allowing a supplier or other authorized person to viewdetails of sales that have been made. An exemplary webpage screen shotis shown in FIG. 16. For example, the customer may desire to view theinspection report summary corresponding to the order having the filenumber of 62247. To do so, the customer selects the “View” link underthe “Inspection” heading corresponding to the file number 62247. Uponselecting the “View” link, a detailed inspection report summary mayappear on the screen.

According to one exemplary embodiment, a supplier or other authorizedperson may also view shipping details, these shipping details mayinclude a variety of information including but not limited to, date, lotID, description, USDA PLI Trace number, quantity, destination, andvarious links or buttons allowing navigation to other parts of the webpage. An example screen shot according to one embodiment is shown inFIG. 17. Advertisements, photos, videos, certificates, audits, andvideos or text describing processes the produce underwent, may also beavailable; such presentations may be directed toward a supplying companyor towards individual consumers.

Once logged in the supplier or other authorized person may navigate viaa navigation bar near the top of the page; the navigation bar maycontain, but is not limited to links to MAIN, INSPECTIONS, COMMENTS,CONTACT US, and/or other useful links. By selecting INSPECTIONS a useris directed to a webpage allowing the user to select the inspectionreports desired for viewing. An exemplary screen shot according to oneembodiment is shown in FIG. 18. In this screen shot a supplier chooses aPLI number from a list and the brand desired for viewing. By selecting“VIEW INSPECTION”, the user is directed to another page, or beginsdownloading a page shown according to one embodiment in FIG. 19. Asshown in FIG. 19, the inspection report summary may include informationregarding the inspection of all the different brands or products withinthe selected order and is derived from the information entered into thedatabase by the inspector at the packing facility. The inspection reportsummary shown in FIG. 19 corresponds to an order of onions forillustrative purposes only. It will be recognized that the informationincluded within the inspection report summary may vary depending on thecontents of the order and the information provided by the inspector.

Returning to FIG. 18, a supplier may also choose the button labeled“VIEW PICTURE” a photo or multiple photos of the chosen lot of produceis displayed. According to alternative embodiments the webpage may alsoincluded more options for viewing various characteristics of theproduct. A screen shot of a photo, according to one embodiment, is shownif FIG. 20.

In some examples, the customer may desire to view the details regardingthe inspection of a specific sample of produce within the order. Hence,a link (not shown) to the full inspection note sheets that are averagedtogether to obtain the inspection report summary of FIG. 19 may also beincluded on the web page shown in FIG. 18. By selecting this link, animage of a full inspection note sheet may appear on the screen. Thecontents of the full inspection note sheet may vary as best serves aparticular type of produce being inspected.

In some examples, some or all of the information shown in any of the webpages of FIGS. 14-20 may be customized, reformatted, and/or omitted fora particular customer. For example, a broker may desire to restrictaccess to pricing information regarding a particular order for endcustomers (e.g., retailers). In this example, the sales details web pageshown in FIG. 15 or FIG. 16 may be configured to hide pricinginformation and only show quantity information for each brand of producewithin an order when accessed by an end customer.

Hence, the web-based application described in connection with FIGS.14-20 may be used to quickly access information at any point along thesupply chain corresponding to all of the produce that is processed inone or more packing facilities. The information may be sorted and viewedby packing facility, lot ID, tracking ID, USDA PLI number, customer,drop location, broker, field, grower, inspector, inspection results,harvest date, processing date, packing date, shipping date, shippingcompany, price, quantity, brand, type of produce, or by any othercategory as desired.

Moreover, the web-based application described in connection with FIGS.11-20 may be used to standardize the various tracing methods used bydifferent packing facilities. In other words, all the information isinput into the central database or databases of individual packingfacilities in the same manner in each packing facility. In this manner,every entity throughout the supply chain may be able to access the sameinformation regarding specific orders of produce, specific packingfacilities, specific growing fields, etc.

In some examples, the web-based application described herein may also beused by a government inspector to ensure that proper procedures arefollowed by on-site inspectors. The government inspector may be a stateor federal inspector. The government inspector may access and sortinspection summaries by packing facility, customer, order number,on-site inspector name, product, brand, date, etc. The web-basedapplication saves the government inspector considerable time andresources by allowing him or her to access the information via theInternet.

For example, a government inspector may desire to access informationregarding inspections of specific samples of produce within a lot ofproduce that is processed at a particular packing facility. If all thepacking facilities use the present systems and methods to inputprocessing and inspection information into the central database, thegovernment inspector may use the web-based application to quickly accessthe desired inspection information, regardless of the packing facilitywhere the produce was processed.

The web-based application described herein may also be used by agovernment agent to trace a product back to its corresponding packingfacility and/or field where it was grown. For example, if a certainproduct in a particular grocery store is found to be contaminated, agovernment agent or onsite inspector may quickly determine where theproduct was grown and where it was processed prior to shipping by usingthe tracking number (e.g., the USDA PLI number) to query the web-basedapplication to display tracing information corresponding to the product.If it is determined that the contamination occurred at the packingfacility, for example, the government agent may then use the web-basedapplication to quickly determine the location of all other produceprocessed at that packing facility so that the produce may also betested, quarantined, or otherwise dealt with. In this manner, acts ofbioterrorism, contamination, or any other problem associated withproduce may be quickly remedied.

According to one exemplary embodiment described herein, the presentexemplary system and method may be used to allow a customer to enter atrace code on a website and pull up all information regarding thegrower, field, and packer of the product; or in the case of a lot IDassociated with a number of products packaged together, the informationcorresponding to all of the products within the package.

Additionally, according to one exemplary alternative embodiment, the actof entering the HTML address or other identifier found on the exemplarytag (900) illustrated in FIG. 9B initiates a directed marketing campaignrelated to the associated produce. According to one exemplaryembodiment, the server (51, FIG. 7 or 80, FIG. 8) identifies the generalgeographic location of the end customer (18; FIG. 7 or 80, FIG. 8) viaany number of information gathering techniques including, but in no waylimited to, requesting general geographical information via a survey orby using the end customer's IP address and the Internet Service Providerinformation associated with the remote terminal (52-4). According tothis exemplary embodiment, once the server (51, FIG. 7 or 80, FIG. 8) orother remote computing device receives and general geographic locationof the end customer (18; FIG. 7 or FIG. 8), a geographically basedtargeted advertisement campaign, related to the tracked produce may belaunched. According to one exemplary embodiment, the server (51; FIG. 7or 80, FIG. 8) identifies the geographic location of the end customer(18; FIG. 7 or FIG. 8) and identifies what produce is associated withthe tracking ID entered. Once the geographic location and the produceare identified, a targeted advertisement campaign can generateadvertisements for restaurants in the general geographic area of the endcustomer (18; FIG. 7 or FIG. 8) that use the same produce.Alternatively, an advertisement may be presented to the end customerrelated to recipes for sale that may be made with the identified produceor related objects that the end customer (18; FIG. 7 or FIG. 8) may haveparticular interest in. The advertisement campaigns may be placeddirectly on the Trace Produce website or alternatively may be links tothird party sites. Linking videos hosted by third party video hostingservice, such as YouTube, may also be used for advertising purposes.

According to one alternative embodiment, produce or other commoditiesare labeled with a tracking number. Through this tracking number a usermay be directed towards advertising campaigns related to the purchasedcommodity. A Trace Produce website may not be available; however, aconsumer may simply be directed to an advertisement campaign. Thiscampaign may include any known method of advertising, for example videoadvertisements through sites such as YouTube.

According to one alternative embodiment, produce may be assigned atracking number and consumers, suppliers, or other persons may enter thetracking numbers in a website and retrieve inspection reports related tothe produce tracking number assigned. According to one embodiment, thewebsite may not contain other information as described above such assales, shipping, and other details, but it would contain some or allpertinent inspection documents. Thus, inspection details or part ofinspection details would be accessible to authorized users allowing themto quickly and conveniently view inspection documents. In thisembodiment a web server application is used to allow the posting andviewing of inspection documents and possibly photos or videos of theinspection process.

It will be recognized that the web-based application described hereinmay additionally or alternatively be used to access any other type ofinformation corresponding to produce that is processed in one or morepacking facilities. For example, a grower may use the web-basedapplication to access pack out and/or inventory information regardingproduce that he or she grows or otherwise produces. Such pack out and/orinventory information may include, but is not limited to, bin reports,pack out reports, lot reports, and truck reports. These reports mayallow the grower to view how his or her produce is being inspected,processed, and shipped. They may also allow the grower to calculate anexpected return on investment due to the packing performance of his orher produce. Web pages may be designed that allow access to suchinformation as best serves a particular application.

Online Account Based Commodity Tracing System

The preceding information is useful in describing both a systemutilizing a central server or various servers containing a database ordatabases which allow a particular item of produce to be traced; that isall the information relevant to a particular commodity is stored withina database, and each member of the supply chain has limited or unlimitedaccess to the information regarding the commodity. In an alternativeembodiment illustrated in FIG. 21 a central website, for exampletraceproduce.com, allows each member of the supply chain to have anaccount. The account allows a given member of the supply chain to enterinformation and view information related to a commodity lot on a limitedbasis.

Each account is associated with a member of the supply chain of one ormore commodities. Within the account, other members may be able to viewcontact information of that member, such as name, address, fax,telephone, personal websites, email address, and other information thatmay facilitate in contacting the entity associated with a given account.This may be useful during a recall or during a contamination warning, asthrough the account system any party having anything to do with aproblematic commodity can be notified with ease.

Illustrated in FIG. 21, three shippers are shown, shipper ‘A’, shipper‘B’, and shipper ‘C’. Each shipper is receives goods from the packingfacility above, packing facilities ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’. Shippers ‘A’, ‘B’,and ‘C’ each have an account on the website traceproduce.com. A givenshipper may enter information relevant to a commodity lot as describedabove in conjunction with trace system and methods described above notinvolving accounts, including but not limited to, a lot record includinga lot number or PLI number, links to maps, videos, pictures, text,audio, other multimedia presentation, advertisements, audits, pesticiderecords, certificates, organic certificates, bill of laden, memorandums,and/or any other information deemed relevant to the commodity lot.

By associating a lot ID number to this lot record, an end customer willbe able to enter the lot ID number on a purchased commodity and viewinformation as described above in reference to FIGS. 11-20. Just asdescribed above a consumer is able to enter the lot ID and viewinformation regarding the history of the purchased commodity such as,sales, shipping, tracing, inspection, photos, videos, advertisements,and other load information. A shipper may also, by logging into theiraccount, assign order information within a data table for a customerthat assigns lot codes, quantities shipped, and destinations for eachcommodity lot on a specific order. This data file may be accessible tothe consumer enabling the consumer to trace which drop locationsreceived products from a given commodity lot as well as quantities andinformation regarding the commodity lot. A shipper's account may also beused for a shipper to communicate with a customer by sending andreceiving messages.

As is illustrated in FIG. 21, a customer has an account withtraceproduce as well, the customer account is linked to the shipperaccount allowing the shipper and the customer to view variousinformation regarding the other. A customer can log into their accountpage, and from the lot ID on a product container, gain access to theexact shippers account page to view all inspections, data files relativeto the customer, and other information a shipper may deem important forthe customer regarding the particular commodity lot. Information mayinclude but is not limited to, inspection pictures, audits, informationregarding the grower, field, packing facility, and shipment methods. Itmay also contain photos or audits information regarding any of thisinformation. Information may also be provided in the form of a link to athird party website, this may be particularly useful in the case ofaudits and certifications where the information is best verifiable by athird part. For example, a link may be present directing a customer toPrimus Labs website. All of this information will be allowed in asecure, private page within the shipper's account, where the account isset up specifically for that customer. This allows a shipper with manycustomers to limit the information each customer has access to. Thisprevents a given customer from viewing privileged information belongingto another customer.

According to one exemplary system and method, the system and method alsoallows one member of the supply chain to log into their account andsubsequently perform a search. The search may allow the member of thesupply chain to locate a shipper, packing facility, grower, broker,inspection agent, certification boards, consumers, vendors, or othermember of the supply chain. The search allow one member to find anothermember offering a commodity or service that they are in need of, orsimply a search to find another member of the supply chain that theycurrently do or would like to do business with.

Just as one member of the supply chain may be prevented from viewingprivileged information of another member, one member may allow anothermember access to a portion or all of their information. This allows anymember of the supply chain to have an account, access other accounts aspermission is given, communicate with other accounts, and generally beconnected to other members of the supply chain for all desired purposes.Members of the supply chain include but are not limited to growers,packing facilities, shippers, customers, brokers, and repackers;

The customer would be allowed, from their account, to upload informationregarding the commodity lot to the shipper's account. The shipperaccount may limit the types and formats of the information allowed to beuploaded. The shipper account may also give different privileges todifferent customers. Content that a customer may upload includes, but isnot limited to, documents, inspections, certifications, pictures ofinspected product, other pictures, and any other information deemedrelevant to the commodity lot. The information may be uploaded in asecure customer access page within the shipper account that allows forprivacy settings. Privacy settings would prevent other customers that dobusiness with the shipper from seeing this information, even though theyhave access to the shippers account.

Customers and shippers would be allowed to send messages to one anotherin a secure manner as well. This may be extended allowing the endconsumer to send a message, such as feedback, to an interested member ofthe supply chain. In the preceding description, as noted previously, theterm customer refers to any authorized entity that logs into theweb-based application and accesses information related to an order ofcommodity. Exemplary, but not exclusive, customers include, brokers,retailers, individual buyers, inspectors, shippers, growers, regulatoryagencies, consumers, and others involved in the supply chain of thecommodity. Any member of the supply chain ‘A’ is able to communicatewith another member of the supply chain ‘B’, if both ‘A’ and ‘B’ chooseto allow communication from one another. Communication allowed throughthe account based system and method allows for communication of any formincluding, but not limited to, text transmission, videos, forms, photos,applications, requests, responses, bids, and any other message onemember of the supply chain may choose to send to another member of thesupply chain. The host of the web site may choose to limit what can besent and who is allowed to send what time of material. According to oneexemplary embodiment, an inspection video, a video attesting to qualitycontrol, or a video of a method used may be sent from one member of thesupply chain to another. Additional examples of members of the supplychain communicating with other members of the supply chain include, butare not limited to, a grower communicating with a packing facility, apacking facility with an inspector or shipper, a shipper with a broker,a broker with a consumer, a shipper with a consumer, etc.

Describing in detail the drawing in FIG. 21, three packing facilities A,B and C provide commodities to shippers A, B, and C. Customer X existsas well, the customer may be any person or entity involved in the supplychain such as a broker or a retailer. Shippers A, B, and C haveindividual accounts on the website, though which they have entered manyitems of interest regarding many commodity lots, particularly they haveeach entered information regarding at least one commodity lot that hasbeen purchased, at least in part, by customer X. The informationregarding a commodity lot may include the information as described abovein reference to FIG. 11-20. Each of the three shippers, A, B, and C,have determined what information relating to the commodity purchased bycustomer X and have allowed customer X to access such information. Thiscan be seen in the drawing as the arrow extending from each shipperaccount to corresponding bubbles with solid rings labeled “Customer Xinformation” with an arrow extending from each bubble to the Customer XSecure Account.

Expanding further on the drawing, a dashed arrow extending from theCustomer X Secure Account to three dashed bubbles each corresponding toinformation that the customer X shares with each of the three differentshippers. Each bubble may represent different information; that is, theinformation provided by customer X to shipper A is different than theinformation provided by customer X to shipper B and shipper C.Information that the customer X may desire to share with each shippermay be information such as documents, photos, further inspectioninformation, and/or other items of interest relating to the commoditypurchased from each of the shippers.

It should be understood that FIG. 21, as drawn, shows one customercommunicating with three different shippers; this is intended toillustrate one example of the above described ability of one member ofthe supply chain to communicate with another member of the supply chain,it is not intended to limit the system and method in any way. It isentirely within the scope of this disclosure to include many moremembers of the supply chain, in which each member has access to anothermember's information, on a limited basis. It should be understood thatin the same way as shown in FIG. 21 where three shippers are shownconnected to one customer, that any number of additional accounts mightbe maintained by various members of the supply chain, all with potentialaccess to one another.

Using an account model is beneficial over the prior described methodsinvolving servers maintained by the members of the supply chain inseveral ways. In a system involving accounts, where each member of thesupply chain creates an account with a website, allows the variousmembers of the supply chain to enter information on their account. Oncethe information is entered they have access to edit it as well as setsecurity controls enabling other members of the supply chain limitedaccess to view, add to, or edit the information originally entered.Accounts also allow all of the above end consumer benefits as well.

It will be recognized that the systems and methods described as relatedto the online account based commodity tracing system may be applied toany type of commodity and are not limited to produce only. For example,the systems and methods described herein may be used to keep track ofand access information regarding the production, processing, inspection,and/or shipment of any type of produce (e.g., fruits and vegetables),grain, meat, livestock, or other food product; it may be extended toinclude other fabricated products, where rather than including growerinformation it may include information pertaining to the fabrication ofa certain product. However, for illustrative purposes only, produce isused in the examples described herein.

The members of the supply chain, prior to the end consumer, each have anaccount allowing them to easily share inspection information as deemednecessary, while the end user notices no difference from the system andmethod described above in reference to the FIGS. 1-6, and 9-20. That is,the end consumer will still be able to enter a lot ID code found on thepurchased commodity and by entering this information into thetraceproduce website (FIG. 11) may be presented with information similarto FIG. 12 as discussed in detail above in reference to this drawing. Itis of note, that an embodiment involving accounts may add severalfeatures to the previously described system and method; however, all ofthe features and components described in reference to embodimentsinvolving a central server or multiple servers may be incorporated intoan embodiment involving accounts. This is not limited to the featuresand components described in reference to FIGS. 1-20, but an embodimentinvolving accounts created by members of the supply chain may alsoinclude a combination of the two embodiments. It is entirely within thescope of this disclosure to create accounts on a website, such astraceproduce.com, that also allow for a central database to be accessed,or the account based website accesses various servers and databasesmaintained by the members of the supply chain. In this embodiment, theprivileges granted to one account may not be the same as another, oneaccount holder may choose to allow another account holder limited accessto their database through the website.

The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate anddescribe embodiments of the invention. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to any precise form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. Modification of the above disclosure may include only piecesof the process as exclusive entities or combinations of pieces to form auseful application in which various described elements of the disclosureare not incorporated. As three specific embodiments of the system andmethod have been described, namely, a central server, various servers,and an account based version, it is important to recognize that eachembodiment may be used alone or in conjunction pieces of the otherembodiments. Specifically, the embodiment involving accounts is easilymodifiable to incorporate any piece of the other embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A commodity tracing method, comprising:gathering, by at least one member of a supply chain, at least one ofinspection information, origin information, packing information, andproduct information from each commodity lot of a plurality of commoditylots; assigning a unique trace code to each of said commodity lots;affixing the unique trace code onto each of a plurality of discreteproducts of said commodity lots; entering said trace codes and at leastone of said inspection information, said origin information, saidpacking information, and said product information into one or moreservers; providing a web-based application configured to provide atleast one customer with access to at least one of said inspectioninformation, said origin information, said packing information, and saidproduct information of said at least one commodity lot in response tosaid at least one customer receiving or viewing in transit said at leastone commodity lot or product and entering, searching, viewing, orscanning said trace code into said web-based application; linking thetrace code corresponding to the products of the commodity lots toproduct inventory information within a database to maintainidentification of product tracing information for products withinorders; wherein the at least one member of the supply chain includes atleast one of a packing facility, a supplier, a distributor, a retailer,an inspector, a grower, a customer, a foodservice entity; and utilizingthe database, by at least one of the members of the supply chain, togain access to the product tracing information for products withinorders.
 2. The commodity tracing method of claim 1, wherein saidinspection information comprises at least one of quality information ofsaid at least one commodity, verification of source information, originof source information, harvest information, packing information,freshness information, grade information, or food safety statusinformation.
 3. The commodity tracing method of claim 1, wherein saidcommodity lot can be defined as a common commodity, variety, batch,product, field, farm, a quantity, or packing facility.
 4. The commoditytracing method of claim 1, further comprising: accessing said one ormore servers through an online account, wherein said online account ispart of a web-based application configured to allow one or moreindividual accounts to be created by one or more members of a supplychain; and configuring said one or more servers to allow said members ofthe supply chain to enter or view one or more of said inspectioninformation, said origin information, said packing information, saidorder information, said shipping information, said account information,and the trace codes within said online account.
 5. The commodity tracingmethod of claim 4, wherein gathering at least one of said inspectioninformation, said origin information, said packing information, and saidproduct information, comprises gathering one or more of a: a map of asource of said commodity; textual description, photograph, video, audiocommentary, and/or multimedia display of one or more of the following:the commodity or product, a source of said commodity, a grower of saidcommodity, a packing facility where said commodity is processed, aninspection of the commodity or product, a variety of said commodity orproduct, pesticide records, certificates, a method of shipment of saidcommodity or product, informational items associated with the product,storage locations and facilities.
 6. The commodity tracing method ofclaim 4, further comprising providing access to one member of the supplychain with an account to another member of the supply chain when apermission is entered into the one or more servers.
 7. The commoditytracing method of claim 4, further comprising configuring the web-basedapplication to allow the at least one customer to access at least one ofthe inspection information, the origin information, the packinginformation, the packaging information, and the order informationassociated with the at least one commodity lot by accessing a secureweb-based account assigned to the at least one customer via theinternet.
 8. The commodity tracing method of claim 4, further comprisingconfiguring the one or more servers to allow the members of the supplychain to search the database for all products and orders associated witha common lot code or a commodity lot via the online account.
 9. Thecommodity tracing method of claim 4, further comprising linking thetrace codes to all final destinations of products with the same code, orfrom the same commodity lot.
 10. The commodity tracing method of claim4, further comprising utilizing the database, by a member of the supplychain, to add content to the database associated with one of the tracecodes to document a contact of the product by the member of the supplychain.
 11. The commodity tracing method of claim 10, further comprisingadding information to the trace code affixed to the product.
 12. Thecommodity tracing method of claim 4, further comprising searchablylinking multiple purchase orders within the database when the multiplepurchase orders have shared product lots.
 13. The commodity tracingmethod of claim 4, further comprising: allowing a retailer to notify acustomer when there is an issue associated with a product.
 14. Thecommodity tracing method of claim 4, further comprising configuring theindividual accounts such that a first individual account can sendinformation to a second individual account via the web-basedapplication.
 15. The commodity tracing method of claim 1, whereinassigning a trace code to each of said commodity lots comprisesassigning a tracking identification (tracking ID) to each of saidcommodity lots, including assigning a tagging system identifier to eachof said commodity lots.
 16. The commodity tracing method of claim 6,wherein said tagging system identifier comprises one of aradio-frequency identification tag (RFID), barcode, lot code, or ascan-able code.
 17. The commodity tracing method of claim 16, whereinthe tagging system identifier comprises an inventory, sales, or shippingcode placed on the commodity by a shipper.
 18. The commodity tracingmethod of claim 17, wherein the inventory, sales, or shipping codecomprises one of a bar code, a scannable code, an RFID, or a lot code.19. The commodity tracing method of claim 18, wherein the tagging systemidentifier is separate from an existing inventory, sales, or shippingcode.
 20. The commodity tracing method of claim 16, wherein the taggingsystem identifier is associated with a company identifier.
 21. Thecommodity tracing method of claim 1, further comprising configuring saidweb-based application to allow said at least one customer to access atleast one of said inspection information, said origin information, saidpacking information, said product information, and said products withinorders associated with said at least one commodity lot by entering orscanning one of said trace codes into said web-based application. 22.The method of claim 21, further comprising configuring said web-basedapplication to present said at least one customer with at least one ofaudit information, inspection information, and certification informationgenerated by at least one of a government agency, a government auditor,a government inspector, an independent third party auditor, anindependent third party inspector, and an independent third partycertifier.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprising: determininggeneral information about a customer from products traced by saidcustomer; presenting a specific direct marketing campaign to saidcustomer in response to entering or scanning of a trace code; andconfiguring said marketing campaign to present said customer with one ofadvertisements, recipes, and products that relate to said generalinformation about said customer.
 24. The method of claim 21, whereinproviding said web-based application to said at least one customercomprises providing said web-based application to at least one of afoodservice entity, retailer, distributor and a supplier; and furthercomprising configuring said web-based application such that saidcommodity lot associated with said trace code is traced to its finaldestination by entering said trace code into said web-based application.25. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering inspection information fromeach commodity lot comprises gathering inspection information from acommodity lot comprising at least one of a produce, a grain, a meat, alivestock, a fruit, a vegetable, a food product, and a frabricatedproduct.
 26. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering inspectioninformation from each commodity lot comprises associating at least oneof a photograph, a video image, or inspection text with each trace codeassigned to each respective commodity lot.
 27. The commodity tracingmethod of claim 1 wherein a load information is included in the at leastone of inspection information, origin information, packing information,and product information.
 28. The commodity tracing method of claim 27wherein the load information comprises one of a purchase order, a billof lading, a shipping detail, a sales detail, a quantity detail, aninventory control, a transport vehicle information, or a price.
 29. Thecommodity tracing method of claim 1, wherein the database is accessiblevia one of a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellularphone, or another remote computing device.
 30. The commodity tracingmethod of claim 1, wherein a geographic location of the at least onecustomer is determined from a detected location of a remote computingdevice used to view the product information.
 31. The commodity tracingmethod of claim 1, wherein the product information comprises anadvertisement related to the product.
 32. A product information viewingmethod, comprising: gathering, via one or more members of a supplychain, at least one of inspection information, origin information,packing information, and product information for a product of acommodity lot; assigning a unique code to the product of the commoditylot, wherein the code is affixed directly onto each product duringproduction; associating the code and the at least one of the inspectioninformation, the origin information, the packing information, and theproduct information on one or more servers; providing a web-basedapplication configured to provide at least one customer with access toat least one of the inspection information, the origin information, thepacking information, and the product information of the at least oneproduct in response to the at least one customer entering, scanning,searching, or viewing the code in the web-based application; wherein thecode includes one of a company identifier or a product code.
 33. Theproduct information viewing method of claim 32, wherein the codecomprises one of a product code, a radio-frequency identification tag(RFID), a barcode, or a scan-able code.
 34. The product informationviewing method of claim 32, wherein the at least one customer accessesthe web-based application using one of a personal computer, personaldigital assistant, cellular phone, or other remote computer device. 35.The product information viewing method of claim 32, wherein a geographiclocation of the at least one customer is determined from a detectedlocation of a remote computer device used to view product information.36. The product information viewing method of claim 32, furthercomprising: accessing the one or more servers through an online account,wherein the online account is part of a web-based application configuredto allow one or more individual accounts to be created by one or moremembers of a supply chain; and configuring the one or more servers toallow the one or more members of the supply chain to enter or view theproduct information.
 37. The product information viewing method of claim36, further comprising configuring the individual accounts to enabletransmission of information between said individual accounts.
 38. Theproduct information viewing method of claim 36, further comprising:enabling a message transmission from a retailer to an end-customer viathe web-based application when there is an issue with a product.
 39. Theproduct information viewing method of claim 32, further comprising:determining general information about a customer from detected productsviewed by the customer; presenting a specific direct marketing campaignto the customer in response to the customer entering or scanning aproduct code; and configuring the marketing campaign to present thecustomer with one of advertisements, recipes, and products that relateto the determined general information about the customer.
 40. Theproduct information viewing method of claim 32, further comprisingsending product information to a customer in the form of anadvertisement when the customer scans or enters a product code into theweb-based application.